Athletic or sporting events, especially those that involve individuals or groups of participants, such as for example cross-country races, marathons, walks, and bicycle races for illustration. Each participant in these examples has registered for the event providing personal information, and in most instances financial information, and in return received a unique identifier that distinguishes them from the other participants in the same event. Traditionally, this identifier comprises a “bib number,” meaning a number (usually an integer, but it may be alphanumeric or any other defined symbol) that is printed on a “bib placard” (commonly referred to as either a bib or placard) that in turn can be pinned, clipped or otherwise attached to the participant's clothing so that the bib number is visible to an observer during the event. Such a placard is usually made of a flexible but preferably durable, waterproof, material. It may be suspended, for example around the user's neck or arm, rather than attached to the clothing. Alternatively, or in addition, the bib number may be attached to the participant's bicycle, boat, motorcycle, or other equipment within the event.
Likewise with other sporting events, wherein the registrant is an observer rather than participant, as well as non-sporting events the registrant is provided with a unique identifier that allows them access to the event, i.e. a ticket. Such events may include, but not be limited to, annual general meetings; societies; food festivals; sporting events such as hockey, basketball, football, and soccer; motor racing; film festivals; music festivals; book clubs; and educational seminars. As with the participating events the registrant has registered for the event providing personal information, and in most instances financial information, and in return received the unique identifier, i.e. the ticket, that provides them with access to the event.
Such methods are well known within the prior art having been, in many instances, employed for many decades if not centuries for participants to attend sporting events, seminars, etc. Recently, electronic commerce and the Internet have impacted how registrants register for such events such that an individual may now complete the registration online and the credential/ticket is then mailed, couriered, or electronically provided to them. Bracken in U.S. Patent Application 2012/0,215,571 for example describes a system for printing a ticket by the registrant upon completion of registration wherein the printed ticket is then taken by the registrant to the event, is verified and mated with an event-specific badge holder. In other instances the ticket is not even printed but is provided electronically and employed electronically at the event, e.g. a 2-D barcode is displayed upon a portable electronic device of the registrant upon attending the event which is recognised by a scanner at the event.
However, within these prior art systems and methods a registrant wishing to register for the next event, e.g. next year's New York marathon, the next Yankees baseball game, or the next annual food and wine festival having just attended that event must access a service provider associated with the event and complete a new registration process. Whilst in some instances the user may have an account with the service provider, e.g. a ticket seller such as TicketsNow™, they must still go through the process of selecting the next event, completing the associated registration steps, and submit payment. However, in the majority of instances the next event will not be accessible through this service provider at that point in time or may only become available through another service provider as the event's organizers change service provider affiliation. Accordingly, opportunities to re-register the registrant are missed, particularly where the next event registration is not available through the service provider for a period of time after the current event, e.g. several months as details are not finalized. In other situations the opportunity to up-sell a registrant are missed as their current pleasurable experience at the event is not leveraged into a registration at an increased service level for the next event.
Accordingly it would be beneficial to provide registrants of an event with a means to re-register for the next occurrence of the event in a manner that was quick, simple, independent of execution of the registration/purchase steps with a service provider, and independent of completion of service provider support for the next event. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to leverage the credential provided to the registrant for the current event in progress or just completed in the re-registration of the registrant for the next event. It would be further beneficial for said method to leverage the technology and devices of portable electronic devices associated with the registrant.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.